Monica Westfall: In one interview, you said that you “try to prepare folks going into the force to know what really goes down.” What do you believe to be the biggest difference in what new recruits encounter in training versus what really goes down?

Sgt. Cheryl Dorsey (Ret.): Well, it’s probably not that different from any other occupation, I would imagine, in that you’re taught in a very sterile environment. You’re taught the proper way, the by-the-book way. Then when you get out of that sterile environment into the real world - the old salts, the old guys who have been around would tell us young whipper-snappers, “Forget everything you learned in the academy, this is how we really do it. Some of it was still by the book, but some of it not so much.

What do potential recruits seem to find most surprising about the reality of the job, and do you find that the reality of policing tends to cause those considering police work to cha…

A Conversation with Former Federal Prosecutor David GriseMikayla
Hellwich: You spent many years prosecuting cases in federal court.What was your experience with bail bonds
there? David Grise: Because
my career as a prosecutor was spent in federal courts, I practiced in a system
in which a court was required to either place a defendant on a bond that the
court knew the defendant could post, release the defendant without requiring
the actual posting of a bond, or detain the defendant without bond. Decisions
were made based on an assessment by the U.S. Probation Office, and any evidence
the parties wished to present. This system ensured that no one was detained
merely because they were financially unable to post a bond. Unfortunately,
that’s not fully the case in Kentucky state courts.

A conversation with Chief Mark Spawn (Ret.) of the Fulton Police Department in New YorkPart II of IIRead Part I Here.

Mikayla Hellwich: If politics were not a concern, describe how you would, as Chief, train your officers to engage people with drug addictions. This includes a) people who’ve overdosed, b) people who are found with illegal drugs, and c) people who approach an officer because they need help.

Chief Spawn: I would make sure my officers were trained to use Narcan (editor’s note: Narcan is the brand name of Naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug) which is currently carried by many police officers in New York State and in other parts of the U.S. In the early days after Narcan was deployed in the field, when there was a life-saving rescue, there was always a news headline. It’s now happening with such regularity that it no longer makes news. The upside is that police have been trained to respond effectively to an overdose, but it’s also disheartening because it shows how wid…

A conversation with Chief Mark Spawn (Ret.) of the Fulton Police Department in New York.Part I of IIRead Part II HereMikayla Hellwich: How do you personally define harm reduction? What does it mean to you? Chief Mark Spawn (Ret.) - Any initiative or program that lessen risks in public health and safety. This includes needle exchanges and supervised injection facilities or “SIFs,” [also called supervised consumption spaces, or SCSs] to name a few.

What is the biggest misconception about people with drug addictions? One of the biggest misconceptions is the image people have - the person who’s down on his luck, maybe a homeless person with a criminal record. The reality is that addiction affects men and women of all races, socioeconomic statuses, people in rural and urban areas. It cuts across all demographics.

What role does stigma play in this misconception? It’s the negative stigma of someone being a “drug addict” that can prevent the person from seeking help or even talking to their…